Born Ileana Pirosska, the daughter of two Dawnslayers in the Church of the Morninglord, she inherited a book from them containing scripture and perhaps other things she does not yet know. At a young age, she found herself indoctrinated into a secret world of hunting undead at all costs -- an even more militant cell of the Dawnslayers than might be typical. Before she reached her tenth year, her parents were slaughtered. She managed to escape alongside a more experienced member of the sect and then spent the rest of her years training to hunt undead.
Upon surviving the Hunter's Bane, she devoted her life to hunting undead and monsters that lurk in the darkness by whatever means necessary. She does not hunt werewolves, however, and will often elect to go after undead rather than other quarry. After encountering a few outlanders who could not pronounce her name -- and wanting to hide her heritage -- she adopted the name Elaine and acquired various epithets, some more flattering than others.